Blade stropper



March 12, 1929. J. D. Biwm: ET AL 1,705,325

' BLADE STROPPER Filed June '7, 1927 Patented Mar. 12, 1929.

1,705,325; UNITE!) sTArss ere-TENT OFFICE.-

JAMES D. BRUCE AND ALEXANDER D. BRUCE, 0F FRAMINGI-IAM, MASSACHUSETTS.

. BLADE STROPPER.

Application filed June 7,

Of the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specilicatio11,

Figure 1 is atop plan view of a blade stropper embodying-the invention.

Figure 2 is a side view otthe same. Figure 3 is a fragmentary side view similar. to a portion of Figure 2, showing a difierent presentation of the blade. to the strop'per member. v

Figure 4 is a bottom plan view, showing a portion of the stropper.

Figure 5 is a section on line 55 of Figure 1.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all of the figures.

In the drawings,12 designates a bed, which i may be a metal plate having flat sides and parallel longitudinal edges, adapted to co-' operate with the grooved rollers hereinafter described. feet 18, fixed to its opposite ends. A strepping member 14 of leather, or other suitable material, is fixed, as by screws 15, to the bed. A layer 16,, of compressible cushioning material, may be interposed between the stropping member and the bed-plate. A carrier is movable on and guided by the bed. and is provided witha' rock-shaft 17, adapted to hold. a two-edged safety-razor blade '18.

The carrier is preferably made from a single piece of sheet metal and includes a body portion 19, and ears 20 and 21, integral with the body portion and bent upward from op posite ends thereof. The ear-'20 is provided with s aced apart stops 22 and 23, preferably integral I therefrom. The ears 20 and 21 are provided with bearings in which the end portions of the rock-shaft 17 are'journaled. V Th" rockshaft is pro ded with i bed itor easablyhof.

The bed may be supported by with the ear, and bent outwardly 1927. Serial No. 197,072.

the blade 18, and with a crank composed of an arm 24, fixed to one end of the rock-shaft, and a handle 25, to be grasped by the operator. The crank-arm 24 is arranged to oscillate between the stops 22 and 23, and to abut said steps alternately, as shown by Figures 2 and i3, and impel the carrier through the abutted stop. lVhen the cranlnarm abuts the stop 22,- and the crank is forced by the operator in the direction of arrow X (Figure 2), the carrier and blade are also moved in the direction of arrow X. When the crank-arm abuts the'stop 23, and the crank is forced in the direction of arrow a; (Figure 3), the carrier and blade are moved in the direction of arrow w. i that when the crank is turned to abut one stop, one edgeof the blade is a t-railing'or follow- 'ing edge and is pressedagainst the stropping member, and when the crank is turned to abut the other stop, the opposite edge of the blade is a trailing or following edge and is lilressed against the stropping .member. A

swinging movement of the crank in either direction, therefore, enables the crankto im-- pel the carrier through one ofthe stops, and at the same time press the blade edge, which is, for the time being, the rear or trailing edge, against the stropping member. The ad vancin'g or forward edge of the blade is always raised, so that it cannot cut the strepping member.

The arrangement is such The carrier is provided with runners on gaging the guiding edges of'the bed 12, and maintaining the rock-shaft 17, substantially atright angles. with the bed and the stropping member. In other words, the rockshaft is maintained substantially at right angles with its path of: movementoverthe stropping member. The runners are preferably antifriction rollers turning on ver t cal axes supported by the carrier, and 'in' yieldingly against the guiding edges of the I rolling contact with the guiding edges of the bed to prevent a loose bearing of the rollers 1 on said edges, as next described.

The sheet metal body 12 of the carrieris provided at one end with fixed spaced apart studs 26, on which are journaled rollers 27,

having grooved peripheries engaging one of the guiding edges of the bed12, said edge and the rollers being preferably rounded, as

shown by Figure 5. To the opposite end of the body 12 is pivoted at 28. (Figure Al) a v :rellerhelder 29, havin a stand 30, on which is journaled a single roller 31, having a grooved periphery engaging the opposite guiding edge of the bed. A contractile sprmg r 82, engaged at one end with an ear 33, on the body 19, and at the opposite end with an ear 3% on the pivoted holder 29, directly maintains the roller 3-1 in yielding contact with the guiding edge with which it is engaged, and indirectly maintains the rollers '27 in yielding contact with the opposite guiding edge. When the holder is displaced, as indicated by dotted lines in Figure 4*, the carrier may be removed from the bed. The carrier body 19 and its car 21 are provided with a slot 35 (Figure 4-) in which theroller 31 is movable toward and from the bed.

e will now describe the means shown for relcasably securing the blade 18 to the rockshaft 17. 20

The described yielding pressure of the rollers agamst the guiding edges 01? the bed, causes said rollers to sufficiently oppose move- 7 ment or the carrier on the bed to cause a suitable pressure of the trailing blade edge against the stropping member, by the pressure or the crank against the abutted stop 22 or 23. In other words, it the rollers were not pressed yieldingly against the guiding edges of the bed, and were allowed to run loosely thereon, the carrier might be so freely movable on the guiding edges that the pressure of the crank against the abutted stop would impel the carrier without sufliciently turning the rock-shalt to cause desirably positive pressure of the trailing blade edge against the stropping member.

- The rock-shaft is cut away between its ends, to form a fiat blade seat between the pertions journaled in the carrier ears 20 and 21, as best shown by Figure 5. Fixed to the rockshaft and projecting "from the blade seat near one end thereof, is a hooked stud 37, adapted to engage the margin of one of the usual orifices 38, in the longitudinal center of the blade. The portion of the rock-shalt journaled in tho ear 21 is tubular, and its bore constitutes a guide in which a rod 39 is longitudinally movable. The rod is provided with a hooked stud 40, adapted to engage the margin of another blade orifice 38. The rod 39 is provided with a head or push member l1, between which and the rock-shaft is interposed a normally expanded spring 42, which acts to hold the stud 4:0 in engagement with the blade. When the push piece 41 is pressed inward, the blade is released. Withdrawal or the rod 39 from the rock-shaft is prevented by a pin 44(Figure 5), fixed to t 1e rod, and aslot 4L5 in the rocksshatt, receiving the pin.

The flat blade seat on the rock-shalt 17 is arranged in relation to the crank 24 and stops 22 and 23, to cause a predetermined inclination of the seat relative to the stropping memher, when the crankabuts one of'the-stops, and av different PFBClGbGl'HIlIlGCl inclination,

when the crank abuts the other stop, so that corresponding predetermined transverse inclinations of theblade, confined as described, on said. seat, are caused by the. cooperation of the crank with the stops. When thecrank abuts the stop 22, the blade has the transverse inclination shown by Figure 2, and when the crank abuts the stop 23, the blade has the transverse inclination shown by Figure 3.

We claim? i r l. A stropper' for 'a two-edged razor-blade, comprising a bed having longitudinal guides at its opposite'edges, a strop fixed to, and sup ported by, the bed, a carrier having runners engaged with said guides, and upstanding cars atopposite ends of the carrier, one 01 said ears'being provided with spaced apart stops, a blade-holding rock-shaft journaled in said ears and provided with a crank oscillatable between, and. adapted to alternately abut said stops, and'with means for engaging a two-edged blade and holding the same in either of two transversely inclined positions, each determined by the handle and one of the stops, the arrangement being such that when the handle abut-s one stop, and exerts pressure thereon to impel the carrier in one direction, one of the blade edges trails behind the carrier andis pressed against the strep, and when the handle abuts the other stop, and exerts pressure thereon to impel the Carder in the oppositedirection, the other blade edge trails behind the carrier and is pressed against the strep, the advancing or -forward edge being raised during each movement of the carrier, so that it cannot cut the strop, the carrier being provided at its opposite ends with grooved rollers engaging said guides, and with means for yieldingly pressing said rollers inwardly against the guides, so that the rollers sufficiently oppose movement of the carrier on the guides to ensure pressure ot the trailing'blade edge' against the strep, by pressure of the crank against the abut-ting stop;

2. A stroppel' as specified by claim 1, the carrier being provided at one end with grooved rollers'engaging one of the guides, and at the opposite end with a pivoted roller holder having a grooved roller engaging the opposite guide, and with a spring which directly presses said roller against the last-mew tioned guide, and indirectly presses the other rollers against the opposite guidej 3, A stropper as specified by claim 1, the rock-shattbeing provided with a fiat blade seat between its ends, arranged in relation to thecrank and the stops, to cause apredete'rmined inclination of the seat; relative to the st-rop, when the crank abuts one of the stops,

y and adillerent predetermined inclination of verse inclinations of the blade relative to the strop, said means including a hooked stud fixed to, and projecting from, the blade seat, and adapted to engage the margin of a blade orifice, and a spring-pressed rod movable in a longitudinal guide in the reclashaft, and provided with a hooked stud projecting from the seat and adapted to engage the margin of another-blade orifice, the rod being provided With a push member whereby it may be dis- 10 placed to release the blade.

JAMES D. BRUCE. ALEXANDER n. BRUCE; 

